Announcements of Varying Variety

All right, I have a lot to say.  So, I’m going to make this post COLORFUL and do different colors for different Topics so you don’t get lost.

As you can see for yourself, I have changed things a little bit.  Rather than making a whole new header for Christmas this year, I decided just to decorate the one I already had. ;)

And yes, I am aware that the background color doesn’t go so well with the header.  But if you want my opinion (and I’m sure you all DO), Christmas is one time of year where we can dispense with caring so much about what ‘goes’ and what clashes, and do what gives us joy. Especially where festive decor is concerned. ;)

*inserts random Christmassy pictures*

Thanks so much to everybody who has answered my blog survey! (If you have not yet done so, you can find it here.)  Upon reviewing the answers, I have a few things to say.  So if you answered the survey, listen up. :)

"At present, I ask only to hear, once to hear your voice."

(Yes, I just irreverently quoted Mr. Knightley... don't kill me please.)

I know, Amy and I were rather terribly silent whilst she was at my house.  We did not give you any amusing tales of weird guys in malls and so forth.  To try and compensate, here is our podcast.  And you shall hear my voice for the first time ever. ;)
Muwahahaha.



***UPDATE***
We watched Les Mis again after this podcast was recorded, and I decided that I would actually pick Courfeyrac.  Because his emo-ness pleased me.  And he's nice.  And he doesn't seem as much of a dweeb as some of the others. :P  (Even if Amy did just call him a total goof.  He's not a TOTAL goof.  Mind, I don't know much about him since I haven't read the book.  But in the movie he was the one I felt I'd get along the best with.)

In which I waltz in here just to make an exciting announcement...

Hiiiiiiiii.

It seems the only time I get on my blog these days are when I have an exciting announcement to make, and I do apologize that.  But do you want to hear my exciting announcement?  Of course you do.

AMY'S COMING AMY'S COMING AMY'S COMINGGGGGG.

(Just had to get that out of my system.)

The Gift of Friendship

God never loved me in so sweet a way before.

'Tis he alone who can such blessings send.

And when His love would new expressions find,

He brought thee to me and He said—"Behold a friend."

–Anonymous

Friendship is a wonderful thing, isn't it?  The more I go about life, the more I realize just what a difference it can make to have good friends to see you through each different phase.

I haven't actually come here to ramble about friendship itself though-- my intention is to ramble about one particular friendship.  Which I know, I've talked about before... I have a special place in my heart for each of my friends, but one has a profound connection to blogging that makes it more natural to ramble here.

“There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.” 
–Edith Wharton

"The two of you are like sisters, except a little bit better."

I always hate starting a new post. I just sit here staring at the blank, empty thing, with the cursor blinking villainously at me.  Mind, it's usually all right once I get started. But starting always intimidates me.

Even so, I have a feeling this post is going to end up being wayyy longer than it should.  Because when I really like a subject I tend to go on, and on, and on... especially when I'm writing. It's actually easier to shut myself up when I'm talking out loud.

And I like this subject a LOT. Which subject, you may ask?  Why, Amy's visit, of course. That's pretty much all you've seen talked about on this poor, neglected little blog ever since the 50-day mark in May.

But where to begin?  Which of the thousands of little details to tell you and which to leave out?

Well, since I like to be much more thorough than is entirely good for me, I'll just start on the morning of her arrival. Or rather the night before, because that's when I started being a nervous wreck. Excited too, of course, but anxiety was added to it.  We talked on the phone around my dinnertime and Amy told me she was starting to feel a little scared or something. Maybe that was what started it. :P  But deep down inside, I was still inclined to think that it was going to turn out wonderfully and we would think ourselves very silly for any doubt.

I was right, of course. I always am. Except when I am wrong, which is seldom.  (Ha... I'm not really being conceited, dears; I'm only quoting, or rather paraphrasing, OAN.)

Sitting in the car on the way to the airport, it was odd to think that it was actually the day. The day I'd been counting down to and looking forward to for so long that it had started to seem like something that would never actually really happen. Likewise sitting in the airport. I was reallyreallyreally nervous and excited, yet I felt like I should be falling over in a swoon or something. Instead, I just sat there silently, twisting my hands or whatever, laughing nervously when my mom (who drove to the airport) would make a remark, and glancing constantly at the screen with the clock and information about flights that was behind me. (Amy doesn't know all the intricacies of what happened before she arrived, so she at least should be interested in this. Haha.)

I love airports.  I still love airports, even though the last time I was at ours was a heart-wrenching goodbye. They're just such exciting places. Something interesting is always happening or about to happen when you go there. But anyways, before I get on too much of a rabbit trail...

As soon as there was an excuse to do so (that is, crowds coming along), I went to stand where I would first see Amy. And then I waited about fifteen minutes. I always wish there was some announcement in the airport saying which flight just came in... then I would know whether to actually expect it or not.

But anyways. All at once, I saw them. Not exactly where I was expecting to, but in the general area. I did this intake of breath and said to my mom, who was standing next to me (with both our purses--I made her hold mine so as not to disrupt any hugging that was about to happen, HA) "there they are..."

There was nothing I could do except stand there, because they were behind security, as it were, past these glass doors with "DO NOT ENTER" painted forbiddingly upon them.  So I just waved wildly... they saw me at last, and they started walking calmly in our direction but then she finally started running towards me like she was supposed to.  I'm not sure I actually jumped up and down but you can be sure my agitation did not allow me to remain still.

*obnoxious

Then we were suddenly in each other's arms in this wild hug that was so full of oomph it sort of set us both staggering backwards. Well, I guess I was the one going backwards, but we might have sort of spun... yes, I think so. It happened too fast to remember details. But it was amazing. You have no idea how often I've dreamed of that moment--and it was not a disappointment. I actually said so at the time, haha. As we were grinning at each other and wiping tears away. (Yep, we both cried. I actually didn't sob like I thought I would. It was more of a laughing-squealing kind of cry. :D)

We greeted each other's moms and hugged more and said such things as "I can't believe this is real!"  and "you're really heeeeere!!!" and all that. And kept staring at each other. I mean, it's one thing to talk on Skype. It's another to have the person actually right there in front of you, with nothing coming in-between. After that year-and-seven-months of seeing pictures of each other, having the person right there in real life is just... wow. It's not something you can explain.

It wasn't even something I could figure out at the time. I was thinking to myself, does this feel real or doesn't it??  Half if it seemed so very deliciously real, like it was perfectly natural, and the other half was just like... well, it wasn't so much like a dream, as it was like it was so NOT a dream that it seemed impossible. I felt like whoa, can this really be happening to me? I don't know what to say, I don't know what to DO... let's just hug again. (Haha. :D) This is actually you. The real you. All of you. The person who wrote all the emails and letters and the voice I heard on the other end of the phone...

It's kind of like as she ran at me into that hug, reality hit me with the same force. It wasn't imagining anymore, you know? It's just so totally different.

I can't remember what the very first think we said to each other was, unfortunately. Almost the first thing I said was "I don't know what to say!" and I was thinking she might respond with "Then make no sound," but she actually didn't. She just said "I don't know what to say either!" Which in a way made me feel kind of gratified, because it meant she was so wrapped up in the excitement of seeing me that she didn't notice a Les Mis quote cue. That's saying something, that is.

And she didn't know any of that until she read it just now in this post. ;D (But for all I know she was thinking it but didn't want to annoy me by saying it at that moment. Bahahahaha. These things do happen. She responds with Les Mis quotes to random stuff I say all the time in Gmail chat, though. :P)

Sooo anyways. I'm going to condense now. I promise. This is turning into a ramble-y journal, and I do not intend for the entire post to be that way. No, really.

There were so many little things that first day that were just so delightful. Ridiculously silly things. Silly that they should delight us, that is. Like when we went to a restaurant on the way home and were excited that they had Cherry Coke because it was something we both particularly liked. And when we went to wash our hands and I used the paper towel to open the door with afterwards and she said "You do that TOO?"  How we discovered we had the exact same kind of chapstick in our purses, and she pointed it out to her mom, who was just like "Oh... okay... o.O"

How on the way home in the car we'd keep smiling happily at each other and link arms and squeeze each other and I just felt so... perfectly happy and content. That desire I've felt for so long to actually be with my best friend was fulfilled and it seemed so... right.

Okay, I'm getting way too cheesy here. This is not an email, it is a blog post. I'm sorry. You poor girls are probably groaning. I'm stopping. I really am.

Oh, oh, and another thing that was absolutely fantastic was sharing private jokes or making random references to things in real life.  And when our moms were getting acquainted and they were talking about various family background stuff, and Amy and I would just look at each other like "Ha, ha, we know all this already..."

And then the old guy who worked at the at the antique mall where we stopped on the way home. "You girls are having way too much fun," he said in response to our giggling and talking. I thought immediately of this picture--

It's very, very true.  We did a lot of fun things, but we had fun no matter what we were doing, as long as we were together.

Getting home and showing her around was full of loveliness but I promised myself to cut the details--though I did want to mention one thing.  I had a graduation present for her and she had a present for me just because she's nice, and I ended up opening hers first and it was this really cute teacup (in this adorable mini hatbox), but when I saw it I wanted so badly to react, and I couldn't... because, see, a teacup and saucer was the main thing I had for her. So I grinned and thanked her and shoved mine at her as quick as possible to explain the awkwardness of why I wasn't squealing over the gorgeous teacup.

In a normal situation this might embarrass both parties, but we were shriekfully delighted. Hahaha. We laughed for the longest time and were just thrilled because it was so... us to give each other the same present.

We stayed up late and talked that night, which was a little bit horrible considering that Miss Dashwood (hehe) had had to get up so early (and the time zones made it worse), but there was really no other possible way. I doubt we could have got to sleep earlier if we tried. (I, in point of fact, hardly slept at all that night.) And some of the conversations we had that night... ha. I remember a few times one of us would randomly insert "I can't believe we're talking about this, on our first night..."

But I regret none of our late-night conversations one little bit.

The next day (Wednesday) we went to a large library in my state's capitol, then on a picnic and then went to the mall to be our own version of goofy. Which was talked about here. All of that was very enjoyable...

I remember on that particular day thinking about our thought process and how similar it is. We've talked and thought about this many, many times, but it's even different in real life. The fact is, I got rather used to it. Used to one of us being about to say something and the other person says pretty much the same thing. It's not so much that we know what the other person will say, as that it's exactly what we were thinking ourselves, you know?  And just, how we could reference practically anything and not have to explain. I stopped to ponder this and marvel over it afresh.

That night we set up a tent in my backyard to sleep out there, and as it happened my parents decided to get this firepit from Walmart that day, and it got set up just in time for roasting marshmallows when it got dark. That was amazingly fun.

Neither of us approve of real spooky stories, but we each told each other a couple of those that end with something funny. (It was after everyone else had gone inside and we stayed watching the dyyyying emberrrrrs.) Well, Amy was in the middle of hers--all into it, you know, with the hushed tone and the creepy descriptions--when my mom comes outside and startles Amy who yelps and literally jumps in her chair and then we burst out laughing and Mom is like "Shhhh! It's 11:00, people are probably trying to sleep!"

We jumped on the trampoline in the dark, too. And lay on our backs to look at the stars. Or clouds, as the case may be. And were goofy and sang songs and talked and mostly laughed. We did this on several different occasions, not just this night. (The trampoline, I mean. Not laughing. We were always laughing.)

Then we watched some of Emma in the tent on her portable DVD player. (We'd started it the night before.)

On Thursday a dear friend of mine came over and the three of us had a splendid time talking and playing ImaginIff with some random literary characters thrown in and just generally being kindred spirits. We also dared the stares of strangers by walking on a nearby path in our Regency dresses to take pictures.  Then Amy and I went to a water park and had a terrific time.  It had been so hot the past two days and then of course on that day it had to be way cooler.  Figures.  But we had a grand time anyway, especially after I had the brilliant idea to sing loud songs as we went down the slides. We kind of ended up shouting them, but it was all good. Not good for my voice, as I discovered the next day...but fun.

I'm afraid this is way too much fun to do at malls and water parks...

Friday we did a lot of random-ish stuff which was awfully nice. (It included going some places, but this is already so long...) And we watched Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel during breakfast; it seems delightfully frivolous to watch something while you're eating breakfast. Haha. :D

And we talked a lot. And were silly. And played Password with our Mammas during lunch.  We were really looking forward to this, because it is a game where you have to get your partner to guess a word by giving them one-word clues, and this works well between two people who are similar-minded and it's even better if you have inside jokes and so forth.  We didn't get a chance to demonstrate much of this that day, but when we picked it up again on Monday it was better.  I mean, not many people would guess the word "mud" when all the other person had said as a clue was "baaabies."

In the evening everyone else went on a walk and we opted to stay home so we could be by ourselllves. Which makes it sound like we had wicked motives, but really all we wanted to do was sing without anybody else hearing. Hahahaha. So we did some duets and it was most enjoyable. I was much less embarrassed to sing in front of Amy than I thought I would be. ;)

On Saturday we prepared all day for the Old-Fashioned Elegance Tea we hosted in the evening, which was combined sort of with garden party, which was perfectly delightful, but describing that would be something for an entirely separate post so we won't go there.  However, I will mention that Amy and I dressed Edwardian, and I did her hair, and was quite surprised and pleased with the way it turned out. Mine didn't give me grief either, thankfully enough, but I had to suffer through wearing hideous curlers all day to achieve it.

Behold. In this picture you will find the Squares de Lemon popularized in
Amy's post, and The Teacups. They are the two nearest to the camera--on the left
is mine-that-she-gave-me,and on the right is hers-that-I-gave-her.

Sunday I had great fun bringing Amy to the church I've attended all my life, and we had a fun time at home in the afternoon looking at old photo albums and some select home videos and such. We also drew the winners for the giveaway over at The P&P95Forever Club, which if you missed... I pity you.

On Monday, The Moms and us went to the mountains. It was a gorgeous day, too. I was gratified that the weather had listened to my command when I forbade it to be otherwise. ;)  We had a wonderful time hiking and floating on the lake and picnicking... when it was almost time to leave, we quickly made it to the path around the lake by ourselves to act out the haunted wood scene from Anne. We thought we'd kept this mission to ourselves, but as we were rambling our way back singing a random song from Phantom of the Opera with a lot of discussion in the middle, suddenly we hear Amy's mom call out "Anne and Diaaaaaana! It's time to leeeeave!" and we look at each other and burst out laughing.
So much for secrecy.

It's a great pity we didn't get to camp there... like, actually sleep there in the tent. 'Twould have been swelliferous.  Well... next time, m'dear. ;)

Then came Tuesday which was our last whole day and therefore very tragic. We managed to have some splendid time together anyway, though. We visited a delightful little tearoom to which I'd been longing to take Amy ever since I've known her, visited some antique stores nearby and stopped by the library I frequent. At home we did a bunch of last-minute let's-see-what-else-from-our-list-we-can-accomplish things, which included posing for some pictures to put on our blogs. ;)

Then we prepared for a very long night. Never mind sleeping. We can sleep when we're dead. So we settled down in the family room in our matching pajamas with stuff to do hair with and fingernail polish and watched multiple episodes of Road to Avonlea and then started The Love Letter (a half-period-drama made by Hallmark Hall of Fame). I was just about falling asleep some of the time, so we made one trip to the kitchen (and almost died trying to stifle our giggles about practically nothing :P) and one out to the trampoline, which was after 1 am. There's an interesting story there, so if you already haven't, go read Amy's post which I'll be linking to at the end of this.

We finally DID go to bed, but we won't tell you exactly how late it was.

And then... she left the next day. I won't put us all through the drawn-out description of all the tragedy and weepy-ness, but trust me when I say we were feeling very sad and sentimental and clingy, and parting after being so close for eight days was... ahem, difficult.

I really need to wrap this up here. But, remember that quick sneak-peek of some of the stuff on our list of things to do that we put in the announcement post? Well, Some of You (we won't mention any names) were rather skeptical about us even getting those done, soooo I would like to now prove you wrong. ;)

~Have an elegant party where Amy can meet all of Melody’s friends: This was mentioned above. Although, sadly, she couldn't meet all my friends. There was one in particular, an avid P&P95 fan like ourselves, to whom I longed to introduce her, but alas, she was gone. *sniffle* 
~Go picnicking at a park: Yes, done. Wednesday.
~Talk by candlelight at night: We did this on Sunday night. With cups of water as precaution on Amy's part, meanwhile scolding me for my lack of proper concern about fires in my bedroom. Why, I could have burnt us to a crisp in our beds!
~Jump on Melody’s trampoline: Oh, yes. Quite fun it was, too.
~Visit a bookstore and read titles aloud to each other in dramatic voices and poke fun at the silly Jane Austen sequels: Well, we did this in the library, which did just as well. We also went to a used bookstore but there weren't as many silly JA sequels there.
~Poke inside fun books such as the old Sears catalogs and look at old clothes: Yes indeed! We never got to the Fifties, though, which was the best one... sigh.
~Each get our own journal beforehand to write in the whole time, and then at the end we switch them and each have the one the other wrote (awkwardly phrased, but you get the idea): Amy's journal (now mine) is within two feet of me as I speak--er, type.
~Play such delightful games as Beyond Balderdash, Imaginiff, Identify That Soundtrack and Clue: We didn't do the soundtrack bit I don't think... but we listened to soundtracks. And we didn't do Clue, but then we played other games not mentioned there, too. It still counts.
~Act out favorite scenes from period dramas and books: Some of them, yes. "Esteem him? Like him? Use those insipid words again and I shall leave the room this instant!"
~Go English Country Dancing: Unfortunately... no. *long sigh* But this was not our own faults! We would if it had been possible, but my group was not meeting that week no matter how I tried to arrange it. We danced a little by ourselves, though. ;)
~Go to the mall to try on clothes and window-shop and sit on a bench and crrrrrriticise people: Hahaha... yes.
~Camp out in the backyard: Mentioned. :)
~Play The Seaside as a duet on the piano: Well... we tried. And I would have got Amy to get it, too, if only our visit had been longer. But we DID work on it somewhat.

The quote used as the post title was something my mamma said to us on the last day.  It made us both quite pleased and happy. We already knew it, of course, but to have somebody else observe it is delightful.

The main quote I remember from Amy's mamma would be when she was talking about us always giggling together.  "If we can't find them in a store or wherever, we just listen and follow the sound of giggling, and there they are."  (And if the house was burning down over our heads, we would just sit there and giggle. Right, Tween? Hahaha. Okay, sorry everybody, semi-private joke. That is, some friends and sisters of ours might nod in understanding.)

In trying to remember Quotes From Our Visit, I recall Amy saying at one point, when we were looking at books or something, that she didn't want to "waste time reading". And then was almost shocked at herself for being able to call reading a waste of time ever, but in this case it was quite true.
And that is a great deal coming from her. :D

All in all, I think we did make pretty good use of our time. We did not finish everything we would have wanted, but that was simply impossible. We did as much as could be realistically hoped for, though. If you ever want to cram a lot into a comparatively short visit, I recommend these things called scheduling and list-making. :D

The most important thing, of course, was just being together. And it was beautiful.  Right now I'm just wishing she was somehow here again... I knew this would make us susceptible to missing each other tremendously, and I was quite right. But I shall remember it fondly for the rest of my life, and I'm determined to make it happen again. This time I should go see her, I think.

To read Amy's account of the visit, go here. :)

"Well, I'd like to fly and spit diamonds, but that don't make it so."

Annnnnnd we're back!  Here to tell the tea shop story, as requested.  This is our last day together (SOB)-- in point of fact, we have but forty-five minutes remaining before we have to leave for the airport--so we shall make this snappy and try not to weep and wail too much.  (This is Amy.)

Well, then, tell the story. And don't forget the goatee. (This is Melody.)

I'll begin if you want me to, but I make no promises about shoving the laptop at you and saying, "Your turn."  :D

So it all happened on July 10th, when we went to the Pemberley Mall together to do what teenage girls do at malls (and a great deal that most teenage girls don't do).  We call it the Pemberley Mall because that was not actually its name, and we happen to like naming things after Jane Austen Stuff.  Let's see, what all did we do at the mall? *shoves laptop*

Heh, heh, well, SOME of it I think should stay 'tween you and me.  Muwahahaha. *wink wink*

Oh very well, but we can at least tell some of the less embarrassing stuff.  Like making faces to match that Grumpy Cat t-shirt?  And the old coot who walked by while you were making your grumpy face and told you to smile? 

Oh, good grief. Apparently old coots have a habit of saying that to me. :P

Okay, well, we were walking by this shop that had a really dumb name regarding teas, which we won't share here in case it's not a chain and some of you might look it up and figure out where Melody lives.  Heh heh heh.  Anyways, they had some free samples on the edge between the store and the mall hall or whatever you call it, and so we decided to sample some, and THEN....

THEN he was like the Spirit of Christmas Present except more quiet. You know, "COME IN AND KNOW ME BETTER, MAN!"

Okay, that's a little freaky sounding.  It wasn't quite that bad.  More like, "Pleeeeeeease come in and sample more teeeeeeeeeeea."  This dude was an employee, by the by.  Whom we suspect strongly of working on commission.

Indubitably.  He had all the sales lines down, too. "This is our most expennnnsive teeeea. Connoisseurs think it quite diviiiine." *strokes little goatee on tip of chin*

Wait, you have a goatee, Miss M????

Not me, silly. Him.

"Him?  Who him?"

Okay, so when we were still standing kind of outside the shop (he came along and decided to assist us with sampling the two teas by the doorway) and after giving us some, he looks us over and says "Hmmm, you girls seem very conservative."  And we were like... o.O

I can't decide which of our multiple body piercings, tattoos and dyed hair gave him that impression... anyways, we said, "And you look like a weirdie."

Thought. She means thought. :P

Technicalities, technicalities.

You know I like to be technical when it suits my purposes. ;)
Anyway, after those two samples he kept taking us in farther, crisscrossing back and forth along the two tables and giving us more tiny samples of tea. Which tasted quite expensive.  However, Amy rather liked the tea (as did I, but she is more of a tea person than I am), and wanted to know how much it was. Heh, heh, heh. 

"No, don't ask," said I.  "There aren't any prices anywhere. That means it must be ridiculously expensive." 

But I do not listen to reason, at least not when it suits me not to, and I asked the dude how much the tea cost.  After all, I am more adventurous than my friend.  (Ha... that was another strange remark he made, when I tried this Strawberry Champagne stuff [IT WAS NOT ACTUALLY CHAMPAGNE] and Melody primly refused.)  As it turns out, the cheapest kind was $64 per pound.  "Oh dear saints above, I shall swoooooooon."

And I just kind of stood there like "I told you sooooo." Then we fled out as soon as possible. 

And giggled about it as we moved through the rest of the mall.  We're still giggling about it, in point of fact.  Giggling is what we do best.  Poor fool, he makes us laugh.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa....

Um, we've been singing that line ALL WEEK.  Like, every few minutes.  And everything fits that tune, too. 

We must wrap this up so that we can spend time together other than tapping and sniggering. Which is of course fun, but you know. THE TIME IS RUNNING DOWWWWN.  
So here. Wrap it. :P

You peoples reading this must understand that this has been the best week of our lives.  I don't think I exaggerate, and if I do, it is not my own fault, is it, Mrs. Allen?

My dear, you tumble my gown. (But you do not exaggerate. :D)

We have had so much fun and done so many things, which we hope to tell you about in the near future, but we have not the time today.  For instance, the tale of being on the trampoline after one AM last night (er, this morning) when Melody's papa came downstairs and nearly locked us out of the house...

Hahahahaha. More on that later. ;)

But for now... we shall have to say farewell.  So long, farewell and all that jazz.  GOOOOOO! GO NOW AND LEEEEEEEEAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Let us not have tears. Partings are a natural part of life.

To ease the pain of this news, I have glad tidings. We shall adjourn early this afternoon, make our way to the Spurgeon farm, where Moody's parents have consented to host a celebration in honor of my departure.

...Nobody told ME.

P.S.  The post title is a quote from the Road to Avonlea episode "Hearts and Flowers," which we watched together, and the quote has nothing to do with this post but we found it funny.  :D

So, about that during-the-visit post we promised you....

*watching Emma 2009 last night*

Mr. Weston: Which two letters of the alphabet express perfection?

Emma: Two letters...? I am sure I do not know!

Mr. Weston: M and A! Do you understand?

Melody: *squeals* MELODY AND AMY!!!!!

How shall we begin?  Which of our important nothings shall we tell you first?

Well, first of all, we have met in real life and are together at long last.  And in case you couldn't tell, "we" refers to Amy and Melody (Miss Dashwood and Miss Marianne).   Okay, Melody, it's your turn to talk now. 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Um... that's all I can think of. :P

You goose.

I am NOT a goose.

Of COURSE you are.

If I am a wild Beast I cannot help it. It is not my own fault. (Is it, Mrs. Allen?)

My dear, you tumble my gown.

We're nuts. But y'all knew that, right??

Two nuts in a case.  Indubitably.

Okay, we should probably write something of substance now instead of quoting at each other.

But... oh, fine, if you insist. Okay, by the way, everything in green is Amy and everything in purple is me. Er, Melody. 

Here, YOU say something of substance.

Perhaps we should tell you all what we have been doing.  Well, giggling has been first and foremost.  Melody is snorting even as I write this.  Er, snicker-snorting.  Which is more interesting.

If you sy so. :D

I didn't sy so, Eliza; I didn't even SAY so.

Um... we're doing it again. Naughty us.

You promised me a jig, you NAUGHTY boy!

Just don't know where to stop, do ya?

If I am a wild Beast... oh, right, you said that before.  

Yup. Hush up, can't you? ;) ;)

This is beginning to look like a gmail chat.  Our readers will be bored to death with it.  Bored to death with the rain, bored to death with their lives, bored to death with themselves.  How about we show them some pictures and tell them about what we've been doing?

Pictures! Good plan. Go ahead.

Very well, I shall do all the work and you can sit there and snigger at me.

I was just going to say "and I can just sit there and giggle," but you sort of beat me to the general idea. (HOW MANY TIMES HAS THAT HAPPENED.)

Really, it's unbelievable how many times we've said the same thing together already.  :D :D 

So.  Let's see.  Well, we've gone out for a walk and listened to music together on dual headphones, which was kind of hilarious (wait, what do I mean "kind of"?) because we kept lip syncing along to various songs and acting all dramatic.  "Pitiful creeeeeeature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?  God give me courage to show youuuuuuuu, you are not aaaaaaalooooooooooooooone!!!!!"  

She just shoved the laptop at me again. Well well. Yes, that was just the first evening. We can't possibly cover everything right now... although I'm thinking we'll probably give you another rundown after the fact. (Only I would prefer not to think of after the fact. :P "If I could, I would tell you how I wish our time together could go oooon and oooon and neeeever eeend..." Um, that's from the S&S musical...)

We've also been watching period dramas.  Emma first, now we're on Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel.  And I just said that for an excuse to include this picture 'cause it's purty.

We went to the mall and goofed around a lot... as teenaged girls are supposed to do-- only, um, our own take on it. ;D (We would tell you about the weird guy in the tea shop but we probably don't have time.) And yesterday a dear friend of mine (who lives near me) came over and we had a delightful time, quite delightful indeed, and then after she left we went to a water park and yelled songs while coming down the slides. The way my voice sounds today proves this fact. :P

Haha, yeah, the Lark Rise to Candleford theme was the best, I think, but we did a pretty good job with "Just You Wait," too.  And of course we had way too much fun making fun of the people around us wearing spandex underwear.  Well, hey, they asked for it.  And we did it quietly.

We've been doing this too. :D

And a great deal of this... we're good at this one.

*Amy shoves laptop at Melody*  Take it.  

I'm not feeling creative, ma'am. 

She's got a proud something-or-other, this one.  (Brain?  Fingertips?)  Give 'er a meal of chaff, I say.

Um... ew.

Yes, Auntie, I'll give her a meal of chaff... come along, Arthur...

My name isn't Arthur.

Well, we seem to be running out of sensible things to say (um... have we actually said anything sensible? ... o.O) so here's another picture.  Worth a thousand words and all that.

We're hiding our faces so the world will never find us.  One must be careful on the Internets, you know.  :D 

On rereading this before publishing.. all I can think of is that we're pretty amusing.

But no one will ever be as entertained by us as us.  :D

I mean, here we are singing "Six Little Ducks That I Once Knew"... yep, we're crazy.  We're all mad here.

Indubitably. :D

There's always tomorrow for dreams to come true...

Believe in your dreams come what may...
There's always tomorrow for dreams to come true,
Tomorrow is not far away!

Amy is probably dancing about HER house singing "One Day More," and here I am singing a song from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Whatever. It suits my purposes.  Because today, there really IS tomorrow for dreams to come true.  You don't know how many times I've dreamed and daydreamed about it. Countless.

AND IT'S REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN TOMORROW.

We intend to do a lot of this. :D

Have I grasped this fact? I hardly know. It seems half strange and half normal.  I mean, I've been waiting this long... it SHOULD be happening. But... I've been waiting this long, but NOW it is really GOING to happen. That makes all the difference. I'm staring at the countdown on my bulletin board (yes, I have one... :P) with its "1 day, 0 weeks, 0 months" like, O_O.

Tomorrow happens so quickly. Tomorrow is only as far away from today as today was from yesterday... which is not long. Not long at all. IN FACT IT'S TINY.

I think we'll be doing a lot of this, too...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.  Shall I swoon, do you think?  If only I were the swooning type...
Kidding.  I wouldn't want to go unconscious. I want to savor every single moment.
And I intend to. :D

So, farewell, everybody. When you hear from me next... you-know-who will be with me. :D :D :D :D  Now, now, try not to be TOO jealous. Hahahaha. ;)

We'll TRY to keep this in mind...

So... goodbye... I need to get going on the great number of last-day things to get done before her arrival. But one last

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Which You All Become Exceedingly Jealous Of Me

First of all, Happy 'Liza Doolittle day to one and all!  If you don't know what that's supposed to mean and haven't seen My Fair Lady... perhaps you should go watch it. If you have seen the movie but are still confused... well, just go re-watch this part. I would celebrate by watching My Fair Lady again today, except for the fact that I want to save it to watch during The Event which is to happen in 50 days; that is the other occasion today marks, and it far surpasses even the day when England sings the praises of Eliza Doolittle. It is exactly 50 days until... well, before you know that, a story is required to be told.

This, my friends, is The Story of Amy and Melody. Told by... well, Amy and Melody, naturally.

It all began on a bright autumn day in 2011 when a girl by the name of Amy started blogging under the pseudonym of Miss Dashwood. Things didn't start to happen merely because this brilliant young lady had decided to start a blog of wit and humor and thought-provoking writing. Nope, that was only part of it--the real reason that Things Began to Happen was that another young lady by the name of Melody came to visit and commentate upon the blog (a kind favor in return for Amy's having recently followed HER blog, and for the charming comments she'd left there) and became the first commentator and follower on Amy's newly-created blog. And that, gentle readers, is when it began.

Because this was no ordinary acquaintanceship maintained over blog comments and courteous once-in-a-while interaction.  Indeed, it snowballed quite rapidly into an exchange of email addresses, which led to manifold emails, which led to the tentative exchange of phone numbers, which led to a (slightly) nerve-wracking phone conversation (well, only nerve-wracking during the first thirty seconds or so) which led to MORE and MORE and MORE emails and phone calls and before you could say "two are better than one," these kindred spirits had formed a fast, firm, long-lasting, super-duper, extra-special, indubitably swellissimus friendship.

And in case that doesn't give you a detailed enough idea of the manner of our friendship--as Mr. Bennet would say, "read on!"

When a person wishes to indicate they don't have a romantic interest in somebody, they say that they are "just friends." Just friends, eh?  In our (very humble) opinions, they rather underestimate friendship. Perhaps they momentarily forgot--or have never been able to find out--just how meaningful friendship can be.  Probably the latter... not many have the chance to discover a friendship that goes beyond ones usually met with (which are nice in themselves). One that is a series of continuous delights, that adds new definition to one's life in general, that never grows old, and where the bond only strengthens; where you feel as if your friend is another part of you, and without them you would feel like something was missing. They probably never got to know somebody and found their thoughts, feelings and understanding to be so in tune with each other that it was like they were always meant to go together.

But though these two young ladies knew their friendship was something incredibly special, one seemingly insurmountable, nearly overwhelming obstacle still lay between them: many, many miles.  The United States is a pretty big place (oops, we just told you we both live in the United States--our privacy is RUINED!) and, as life would have it, these kindred spirits live practically as far apart from each other as the country allows.  Yet there was only one thing to do--pray, hope and plan for a face-to-face visit . (Oh, wait, that's actually three things.) Someday. Somehow. Somewhere.

And so the cautious suggesting of the idea to their parents began. (Initial reactions? "Well, I don't know about you going to see HER... but if she wants to come visit us, she's more than welcome!") As did the saving of money.  The discussions over the phone, Skype, email and good old-fashioned letters (did we mention they did those too?).  It seemed so unrealistic at times, almost a pipe dream, and at other times it seemed something that simply MUST and would happen, come what may. If the force of sheer willpower could do it, circumstances would have no choice but to obey.

Let's cut to the chase.  After many months of speculating, praying, dreaming, wishing and calculating, it happened.  Airline tickets were purchased.  Days were marked on a calendar.  And we stand (well, sit--when we're not busy jumping up and down, of course) here today delighted, thrilled, over-the-top SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE-ing to announce that Amy is going  to visit Melody in just fifty days.  FIFTY DAYS, PEOPLES. (In case you don't want to have to do the counting, we'll just tell you that it's happening on July 9th, 2013.)

 How excited do you think we are? Okay, take that and multiply it by fifty, make it all-in-caps and throw in any number of exclamation points, and you might be coming close.

*waits a few moments for the news to fully sink in*

And that is why we are not watching My Fair Lady on this Eliza Doolittle Day. Because, you see, we will be watching it in less than two months. Together. IN REAL LIFE. (We consider it to be our musical, you know. For reasons unbeknownst to all of you and that would take too long to explain. Did we mention all the private jokes and such we have? Well, yeah, that was probably kind of a given... and don't even get us started on all the nicknames and acronyms. Your head would swim.)

As for the rest of our plans... well, let's just say we have QUITE a list. (There are a lot more period dramas to be viewed too, by the way.) Will we be able to complete everything on it? Heh, extremely doubtful. But we're as sure as certainty going to try our best. :D It's going to be the craziest eight days (EIGHT WHOOOOOOLE DAYYYYYYYYYS!!!!!!!!!) of our lives; we intend to make the most of every single second with each other.

Just a small sneak-peek at some of the things we have planned...

~Have an elegant party where Amy can meet all of Melody’s friends
~Go picnicking at a park
~Talk by candlelight at night
~Jump on Melody’s trampoline
~Visit a bookstore and read titles aloud to each other in dramatic voices and poke fun at the silly Jane Austen sequels
~Poke inside fun books such as the old Sears catalogs and look at old clothes
~Each get our own journal beforehand to write in the whole time, and then at the end we switch them and each have the one the other wrote (awkwardly phrased, but you get the idea)
~Play such delightful games as Beyond Balderdash, Imaginiff, Identify That Soundtrack and Clue
~Act out favorite scenes from period dramas and books
~Go English Country Dancing (SQUEEEEEEE!)
~Go to the mall to try on clothes and window-shop and sit on a bench and crrrrrriticise people
~Camp out in the backyard
~Play The Seaside as a duet on the piano (Amy needs to start practicing that...)

And, of course, we intend to post during the visit and keep y'all updated.  Writing blog things together? Well, indubitably! That's how we met, isn't it?  Can we just say again how thrilled and excited we are????

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."

~Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

~~
(And now the narrative switches to just me, because I have to add in my rambling two cents about everything. Haha.)
I remember the lazy afternoon when I first saw the new blog of a follower named Miss Dashwood-- a pen name which made me smile. All Jane Austen names do. And then going to her blog--"Yet Another Period Drama Blog". That amused me, too. I remember reading her introductory post and thinking what a kindred spirit she sounded like--didn't use the term, though, because I wasn't sure if she knew Anne and when one doesn't know Anne the term just doesn't have quite the same effect. (She did indeed know Anne, as I soon found out--a lot better than I did. *cough*)

When she signed her first email to me "Miss Dashwood/ Amy/ Cordelia Shirley/ Wondrous Being of Perfection And Majesty--whichever you prefer", I giggled, feeling slightly befuddled, but grinning brightly, and was left with a feeling of happy excitement just from that short email. This girl was somebody really special, I could tell that, and I liked her. A lot. Part of the reason for this was probably because she was so much like me. We had an amazing amount of Things In Common, more than I ever thought was possible to meet with, and it just made me feel so happy inside. And as I got to know her better... well, it only increased. Everything.

And continues! I'm talking about this as if I'm telling a story from the past--and I am, partially. Those tentative-yet-bold first few months of our friendship are over forever and I think over them with fond nostalgia (I could probably reminisce for hours)--but really, it's just about to begin. She's going to be here. We will be together in 'real life'.
I've wanted it to happen so much, and for so long... (seriously, I was already contemplating it when we'd only been emailing for three months. I couldn't HELP it.) When I think sometimes about how it's really, truly going to happen, something inside me soars and I wonder if someday it will burst.  It's like I've crossed over the rainbow and into the land where the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. ;)

50 days... about 7 weeks... a little over a month and a half... it really couldn't pass too quickly for my taste, but the fact that the numbers are consistently getting smaller... teehee. Excitement doesn't begin to cover it. And I've a feeling I don't know the half of it yet.

Am I just a tad nervous? Heh, well, yes. Sometimes. I mean, after all those however-many-thousand emails (not exaggerating), all the giggle-filled phone calls and Skypes and the bulky letters... for all the knowledge I possess about her and all she knows about me (ahem)... I can have no clue what it will be like to be together in person.

But it's awfully fun to imagine... and I KNOW it will be completely, beyond-anything wonderful.

And one thing I haven't mentioned yet... Twinnie dearest, I am not only thrilled but so very touched that you're really coming to visit me.  I know that this isn't a little thing.  I know that there are some Things to go through and to sacrifice, and it makes me so happy that you consider me to be, well, worth it. (Not to mention I'm so grateful to your parents for actually making this possible. :D) I've said all that before, but I've never actually thanked you... let me do so now.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!
I know we're going to have a literally awesome time. ;D